Our 2026 logo (featured on this year's festival t-shirts) is an ukiyo-e depicting the Kabuki actor Nakamura Shikan IV as the character Fuwa Kazuemon, created by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (also known as Toyokuni III) around 1863. The print is part of a series titled Iroha Diary of the Eastern Station.

About the JCCC JSF Festival, Screening & Awards Ceremony

The 2026 JCCC Japanese Shorts Festival (JSF) invites Japanese language students at schools in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska to submit their own original 3 to 5 minute short videos to the 2nd Annual Japanese Shorts Festival. If you decide to enter, you will form a production team of 1 to 4 members, write your original script, cast the roles then choose the music, location, sound and visual effects, and start filming!

Shorts can be in any genre - drama, comedy, horror, mystery, romcom, documentary or a mix. And can take any form - live acting, anime, stop-action animation, or a mix of all three. You can act, sing, narrate, dance, or recite your original poetry … It’s up to you! Feel free to take a look at last year's entries to get a little inspiration (click on "2025 Student Shorts" on the menu bar at the top of the page).

After all final entries are submitted (April 11, 2026), a panel of five judges will determine which shorts deserve awards in the following categories:

Best Screenplay, Best Acting, Best Special Effects, Best Animation, Best Camera Work, Best Soundtrack, Best Original Music, Most Original and 2025’s Best Short

Then, on April 25th at 1:00pm, we’ll hold the Screening and Awards Ceremony on the JCCC campus (1:00pm in the Hudson Auditorium in the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art). Your friends, family, classmates, and instructors as well as the public at large are all invited to attend the festivities. In addition to the video screening and free sushi and Japanese snacks, prizes and the 2026 JSF T-shirts (all participants get one) will be presented at that time.

Please note that you do not have to attend the Screening and Awards Ceremony to win. Festival T-shirts and applicable prizes will be mailed to any participant unable to attend.

Interested? Read the additional information and fill out the forms you'll find on "Entering the 2026 JSF" (menu bar at the top of the page).

日本語短編動画フェスティバル

JCCC Japanese Shorts Festival

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